


Assimilation

by burdened_with_glorious_cheekbones



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Friends to Lovers, I promise it will all make sense eventually, Internal Conflict, Jane's curiosity will get her killed, Lindisfarne, Starfrost: A Jane/Loki Fic Exchange, Sword Fighting, Teasers & Trailers, Time Travel, VIKINGS AU, and enjoying it, bigger things to come, manipulative!Loki, very slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-29
Updated: 2014-06-29
Packaged: 2018-02-06 16:52:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1865325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burdened_with_glorious_cheekbones/pseuds/burdened_with_glorious_cheekbones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If he killed her, so be it.  It was in his nature to kill, in hers to surrender.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Assimilation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Valesia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valesia/gifts).



> Hey all! So this is my contribution to the Starfrost fic exchange for Valesia. I hope you like it!! Initially I had this huge idea that involved Vikings and time travel and slow burn sexual tension, I even had a few chapters uploaded to the site but then I realized I had completely bitten off more than I could chew. Due to time constraints and the excessive amount of exams I've had over the past month I knew I wasn't going to be able to finish the fic I wanted to in time so this is basically a teaser of said fic. When this story is no longer anonymous and I've edited and hopefully finished the multi-chapter fic I had in mind I'll post it up here and gift it to Valesia as well because I'll feel terrible if this, to be perfectly honest, pretty bad fic is all she gets! :(  
> So make sure, if you don't mind this little teaser to keep a look out for a story called Lindisfarne.
> 
> Without giving too much away I'd just like to avoid some confusion by explaining what's happened to lead Loki and Jane here. Basically Jane was taken hostage by Vikings during the sacking of Lindisfarne and Loki has taken it upon himself to help assimilate her into the Viking society. There is so much more to it but I don't want to give it all away just yet. If there is any confusion please do let me know and I'll attempt to explain it, if I can, without just writing out the entire plot of Lindisfarne to you. Anyway, sorry to have kept you all waiting, without further ado I give you...Assimilation! XD

Tree bark dug into her back painfully and she groaned as her pried her fingers open, removing the dagger from her clutches. His thin lips curved into a smirk while he grasped her hair with his free hand and tilted her head to meet his eyes.

“You’re getting better.” He conceded, with a quick nod, letting her go suddenly and dropping her dagger to the ground. 

She listened to the soft thud of its landing and breathed out a shaky sigh. At first she had thought that this would be a good idea. This. Training with Loki. Learning from him. Trusting him. She was not so sure anymore. Sinking to the ground she allowed her thoughts to drift.

It had been his idea of course, which was what made her so suspicious of it in the first place. He’d suggested it, after he had healed, after she had helped him heal. He had gone back to his own way of life and they had been separate. She had not known before then that she could miss a murderer. Miss a man wholly ingrained into a world of brutal, savage people she could not understand. But somehow, she could understand him. And not just in the way she had first imagined. Not just in terms of language, though his miraculous ability to actually converse with her in a world where no one else understood her language did help matters considerably. No, it was more than that. She had healed him. She had healed him and she had hated him and then suddenly she didn’t anymore. She was not sure when the change had occurred; maybe it was when he had asked her about the stars, as if he had known. Known what was in her head. Known what was in her soul.

This thought frightened her even more, because knowing Loki as she had begun to know him she realised that he could (and most certainly would) use the knowledge of her inner-most dreams, to manipulate her.

“Have you had enough for today Jane or are you prepared for another bout?” He startled her from her reverie and she glanced into his cool clear-water eyes.

“Just allow me another moment, to catch my breath.”

“If this was a real battle you would be dead before you could catch your breath.”

She ignored him, closing her eyes and shutting out his ringing words. She let the feeling of the moss underneath her, swallowing her up, calm her as it always did in these moments. Out in the clearing she imagined what a sight they would be. Her, eyes closed, sinking further, down, down, down, into the undergrowth, him above her, eyeing her with the distaste she knew he harboured for her. She wondered, if she opened her eyes, would he be readying his blade to strike at her. But she did not open her eyes. If he killed her, so be it. It was in his nature to kill, in hers to surrender. 

At first there had been trust. After that long month of separation when he had approached her and they had begun speaking again. Same old, same old conversations. Getting to know each other in their own unusual way. After a while she had realised that he was helping her. He translated conversations, taught her about their ways, their systems, their Gods. She had not been able to help it, his stories were interesting and he was interesting and she had ever been a curious creature. She let him help her, she let him teach her and she had enjoyed every moment of it, enamoured with his words. Enamoured with his lips as they curled over the syllables. Enamoured with the shadows that fell across his face, below his high cut cheekbones as they sat by fires and he explained the world around her, as he made it sound beautiful. Now, in the harsh light of day she hated him for it. Because sometimes, when he thought she couldn’t see his façade cracked and behind it there was something that scared her. Something twisted and bitter and dark. Something that loathed her and smugly stood over her, manipulating her. And it was him. The real him.

Still she had allowed him to help her. Had felt joyous when he had approached her about the training.  
‘You’ll need to learn how to defend yourself, dear one,’ he’d said, ‘I’ll be the one to teach you.’

And this, this is what it had gotten her. Out here, in a clearing with Loki, dwelling over how frightening it was that he could so easily disarm her, dwelling on how much she enjoyed it when he did. Enjoyed the feeling of the lean lines of his body pressed tight against her, liking that smirk that unfurled when he defeated her and the steady gaze with which he held her. Tight-lipped she groaned inwardly and opened her eyes. She stared for a steady moment as the blue-grey sky and then glanced once more in his direction. He was steadfastly examining the sharp edge of his axe, too determinedly apathetic for it to be natural. 

“I’m ready.”

He nodded without looking at her and stooped to pick up her knife. He handed it to her, hand lingering over hers for just a moment longer, forcing her to meet his gaze.

He smirked, stepped back and positioned himself to fight once more. She lunged knowing he would easily parry and not having enough energy to care. He sidestepped her blade nimbly and swiped at her legs. She tried to leap away but was a moment too late. Blindly she jerked her sword in his direction as she careened wildly, trying to regain her footing. She yelped as she felt the flat of his blade hit her back and fell face first back to the ground.

“I take back what I said earlier. You’re still entirely useless.”

He chuckled. Darkly. She turned slowly to gaze up at him, dizzy from her fall. The sun lit him from behind and he looked like an angel. No, she corrected herself. He looked like a God. One of their Gods. One of the North men’s God’s. Violent and twisted and dark and so, so beautiful that it literally hurt for her to look at him. He grinned maniacally at her, enjoying the sight of the tears she attempted to blink back.

“Why do you enjoy this so much? Why do you want to hurt me so much?” she asked, voice strangled and pathetic, “Do you hate me so utterly?”

He laughed again leaning towards her as if to share some private joke, “Don’t you understand Jane? The problem isn’t that I hate you. It’s that I don’t.”

They finished training for the day after that but his words did not stop reverberating around her skull. Echoing over and over and over again. And funnily enough she realised she did understand.

She understood exactly.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow... that got a lot deeper and darker then I was expecting. There wasn't supposed to be so many revelatory thoughts and I was never planning on Jane being so aware of Loki's darkness. These characters have a mind of their own!!  
> Also, sorry for the amount of gushing about all of Loki's pretty, I hadn't planned on that either. Oh well... I hope you liked it Valesia! :P And everyone else too of course. Let me know what you all think.


End file.
